Tag Archives: lira

The Turkish lira was steady on Thursday, shrugging off the U.S. decision to remove Ankara from the F-35 fighter jet programme after it began receiving delivery of the Russian S-400 missile defence system last week. Isik Okte, a strategist at TEB Yatirim/BNP Paribas, said the statement from the Pentagon on Wednesday regarding Ankara’s removal from the F-35 programme was more moderate than expected. “It is seen as certain that the U.S. will impose CAATSA sanctions but a much harder statement could have been made by the Pentagon,” he said, referring to a 2017 law known as the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

The Turkish lira eased slightly but remained below 6.0 against the dollar on Thursday after the United States ruled out removing steel tariffs on Turkey even if Ankara frees a U.S. pastor, and after Qatar pledged $ 15 billion in investment to Turkey. Investor attention was focused on a conference call which Finance Minister Berat Albayrak will hold at 1300 GMT to reassure international investors. The lira , which has weakened 36 percent against the dollar this year, eased to 5.98 against the dollar by 0443 GMT from a close of 5.95, as investors weighed up the latest comments from the United States.

Much of the Turkish lira’s plight may be homegrown, but it shares some key vulnerabilities with other emerging countries whose currencies are now also plunging as fear of contagion spreads, analysts say. South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Russia have all seen their currencies slip over the past week because, like Turkey, they remain heavily dependent on foreign capital, especially the dollar. “This is a typical ‘flight to quality’ move from foreign investors out of emerging markets to safer, developed countries,” Agathe Demarais, lead Turkey analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told AFP.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday slammed the crash of the lira amid a widening spat with the United States as a “political plot” and said his country would instead seek new markets and new allies. “The aim of the operation is to make Turkey surrender in all areas from finance to politics. With God’s permission we will overcome this,” Erdogan told his party members in the Black Sea city of Trabzon.

“This crisis is created by America,” she said. The lira has lost more than 35 percent against the dollar this year and hit a fresh low on Friday, its biggest one day fall since Turkey’s 2001 financial crisis. Food, rents and fuel prices in Turkey have all surged.

The Turkish lira on Wednesday slumped to record lows of 5.0 against the dollar as the US hit Turkey’s justice and interior ministers with sanctions over the case of an American pastor on trial for terror-related charges. Before his move home last week, Brunson, who led a Protestant church in the Aegean city of Izmir, had spent nearly two years in jail. It then hit 5.0 again after the official announcement from the White House.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday urged compatriots to change their foreign currency to the lira to help prop up the embattled currency. The lira has lost 16 percent of its value against the greenback in a month as markets became jittery after Erdogan indicated he wanted a greater say in monetary policy if he won legislative and presidential elections on June 24. The lira hit 4.92 against the dollar on Wednesday before paring back some of its losses later this week after an emergency central bank rate hike.

The embattled Turkish lira hit record lows against the dollar on Tuesday as investors took fright over an impending trial in the United States and changes to banking regulations. The Turkish lira lost over one percent in value to trade at 3.97 to the dollar late morning, testing the never-before-reached 4.0 ceiling, before rallying slightly to 3.95 in the early evening. The latest drop followed the delay on Monday of a scheduled trial in the United States of Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab and Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank, accused of defying US sanctions on Iran.

By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Daren Butler ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey urged the United States on Monday to review its suspension of visa services after the arrest of a U.S. consulate employee sharply escalated tension between the two NATO allies and drove Turkey’s currency and stocks lower. Relations between Ankara and Washington have been plagued by disputes over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, Turkey’s calls for the extradition of a U.S.-based cleric and the indictment of a Turkish former minister in a U.S. court.